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TORONTO, Ontario—Mercy For Animals is renewing its call for the Canadian government to protect animals from needless suffering and death during transport following the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s recent publication of proposed amendments to the Health of Animals Regulations: Part XII, which deals with the humane transport of animals.

For years, Mercy For Animals has called for Canada’s livestock transport regulations to be modernized in order to alleviate the suffering and prevent the deaths of animals during transport.

Mercy For Animals said in a statement that “due in large part to Canada’s outdated livestock transport regulations, every year millions of farmed animals arrive at slaughterhouses dead or so sick or injured they are declared unfit for human consumption.”

Under the proposed amendments, livestock haulers will be permitted to transport animals through all weather extremes without food, water, or rest for up to 36 hours, and loopholes have been added to allow for animals to be transported for even longer times with no penalties to transporters.

Krista Hiddema, vice president for Mercy For Animals in Canada, made the following statement: “Canadians are sick and tired of lagging behind the rest of the Western world when it comes to farmed animal welfare. Our outdated transport regulations cause horrific suffering to animals and are a national outrage. Even more outrageous is that the newly proposed updates to the livestock transportation standards still allow for animals to be trucked for thousands of kilometres, through all weather extremes, for 36 hours or more without food, water, or rest.”

Mercy For Animals is calling on Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay and the Canadian government to dramatically improve animal transportation regulations as well as the enforcement of these regulations.